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The wind whipped snow in Pianto's face as he pushed along.
He and Marana had been traveling through the Terror Mountain Range for the last
two days, but the blizzard had blown in only recently.
Marana, who was pushing against the wind behind
Pianto, yelled through the storm. "Maybe we should find somewhere to sleep or
something. Were gonna freeze if we stay out here!"
Pianto squinted through the ice and sleet. He
had been looking for a place to settle in for the last three hours, since the
storm had picked up, with no such luck.
Squinting harder, the fire Gelert saw a dark
spot in the wall of impenetrable wind. A cave? Pianto needed to find out. "Just
a little further," ha called back, hoping, praying, that he was right.
***
Luckily, Pianto's eyes hadn't deceived him. The cave was real and Marana and
he were happy to have found it. Pianto had trouble making a fire, what without
having a lighter and all. But soon, he and his Cybunny partner where sitting
near a blazing flame.
"I'm bored," Marana complained, sighing. Oh
no, don't start, Pianto thought. "Maybe we can tell stories, like in the
story telling contest," the Gelert suggested.
Marana shrugged. "Whatever, as long as I'm not
bored out of my mind." Pianto thought for a minute. "Do you want to start?"
Marana shook her head.
"Nah, I'm not very good at that kinda thing.
You start." Pianto thought for another minute. Honestly, he wasn't very good
at it either. "OK, here I go."
"It was long, long ago, in a kingdom long since
gone. There lived a king. He was an honest king, always did what was in the
best interest of his people. And with him lived a beautiful daughter. She was
the most beautiful maiden in the land. Everyone wanted to marry her, but the
king wouldn't allow it. 'No ones good enough for my daughter,' he would say.
Then one day, an old which hobbled into the castle. She said that she wanted
the king's daughter. But, as always, he said no.
"But the king was easily won over. You see,
however much he loved his kingdom, he loved his daughter more. And however much
he loved his daughter, ho loved one thing more. That was gold. Not just gold,
but diamonds, rubies, emeralds…he loved them all. And the king wouldn't allow
anything to get in his way of acquiring theses jewels.
"The which knew this, and used it. ' I will
give you all the jewels I have, and with them, you will be the richest and most
powerful king anywhere.' The king loved his daughter very much, but the next
morning, at the crack of dawn, the which rode out of the castle, the king's
daughter next to him. The king lived happily ever after with his rare stones.
And the daughter spent the rest of her life with the which. The end"
Pianto looked down from the ceiling of the cave
to see Marana curled up in her blanket, fast asleep.
"Well, I didn't think my story was THAT boring,"
he said to himself. Outside, the storm was beginning to settle down. Nah,
I'll let her sleep, the Gelert thought.
Then lay down to fall asleep himself. But as
he drifted asleep, one thought still stuck in his mind. The king in his story
reminded him of somebody, somebody he didn't expect. Himself.
***
Pianto and Marana were once again on the trail through the mountains. Since
the blizzard, Pianto had decided to be nicer to Marana. He found that she had
also had a change of heart. She no longer seemed sour all the time. She even
seemed to have forgotten about the plushie. Things were looking a little brighter.
"So, what exactly are we looking for?" the Cybunny
asked, buttering some toast.
"I don't know, really," Pianto confessed, reaching
for a slice of bread for himself. "The poem calls it 'The Great One.' I guess
it's a statue or shrine or something." His paw found no toast inside the pack.
"Hey, you got the last one," he shouted playfully
to the Cybunny. Marana laughed.
"Finders keepers, losers weepers," she cried
and took off. "Hey come back. Let's split it or something. Come on!" He chased
her around the camp; but by the time he caught her, she had already eaten it.
***
Pianto rounded the corner to find a sight he did not expect. A large stone
shrine carved out into the rock of the mountain.
Though the stone was gray, the sun's reflection
off it gave it a purple tint.
"Wow, that's very cool," Marana had to admit.
The two climbed the stairs to the entrance way.
A long hallway greeted them as they entered.
Vines grew from the walls, showing the building's age. The stone felt cool and
damp to Pianto's touch.
At the end of the hallway sat a large stone
statue formed like a Scorchio. A long tablet, which stretched from one side
of the room to the other sat at the base. On it was every letter in the English
language. There were many copies of each letter.
"I guess this is the Great One," Pianto spoke
finally. He walked up to the tablet and tried to pry off one of the letters
to examine it. But, try as he might, the letter stayed attached to the wall.
However, he found that it could be moved around rather easily.
"So what, do we talk to it or what?" Marana
asked. Her question was answered with a shrug. "I guess," the Gelert barely
replied.
The next few hours were silent ones. Pianto
sat in front of the statue, just staring at it. It was as if, if Pianto stared
at it long enough, the answer might just come to him. But it didn't. After about
three hours, Marana became worried.
"Are you alright?" Marana asked, shaking Pianto's
shoulder and disrupting his thoughts. Pianto shooed her away.
"Shh, I think I almost got it," he replied.
"Pianto, come on. You're starting to scare me." Her voice was full of nervousness.
"I'm cold and hungry. Make a fire and let's eat. We can worry about this tomorrow."
But the Gelert was too distracted to make a
fire. Suddenly, it hit him. The letters! Could they be the answer? It was worth
a shot. Pianto rose from his spot, stiff and sore from kneeling so long, and
walked over to the tablet with the letters.
He began to move each letter, one after another,
into a space directly beneath the statue.
One after another, he arranged them to spell
out a sentence, "ARE YOU THE GREAT ONE?" He stepped back, revealing what he
had spelled out to Marana. "That's crazy!" she cried out, but stopped and stared
at the sight that befell her.
The letters began rearranging, by themselves!
They moved and all around and finally came to a stop; spelling out a single
word, "YES."
The two stood, baffled by what they had just
seen. "Well, I guess we know how to talk to it," Pianto finally admitted. He
then began to again rearrange the letters.
"HOW DO WE FIND THE TREASURE WHICH WE SEEK?"
The letters again rearranged themselves.
"YOU MUST BE WORTHY." Then, Pianto felt a hot,
white light wash over him. It was so bright that he had to close his eyes. When
the Gelert opened his eyes again, he was standing in a white room; and the Scorchio
was standing in front of him.
He wore a brown cloak, and his red face looked
very young, yet a glimmer of age and wisdom shown in his eyes.
"You have come here seeking a treasure?" he
assumed. "Yes, we have," the adventurer replied, not in the least bit surprised
that the Great One knew this.
The Scorchio studied him for a minute, as though
peering into Pianto's mind, reading his thoughts.
"What reasons do you have for wanting these?"
the Scorchio inquired. This caught Pianto off guard. The whole time, Pianto
had never once thought about WHY he wanted to find out what the poem meant or
what the treasure was, just that he did.
"I don't really know," he admitted. "The adventure,
I guess."
The Scorchio smiled understandingly. "You may
pass," he finally stated. "But the Cybunny friend of yours…" he trailed off.
"No," Pianto stopped him. "You can't let me
go without Marana! We're partners, and we're in this together!" Pianto caught
himself. Did he really mean what he just said? The Scorchio's smile grew wider.
"You have feelings for her," he stated simply. Pianto blushed.
"No I don't!" he yelled back. The Great One
nodded understandingly.
"Very well." And with that, the flash of light
returned to Pianto, and he was back in the temple.
Marana ran up to him and gave him a big hug.
"Oh Pianto, I was so worried!" Pianto turned to her, a little confused.
"How long was I gone?" he asked. "Only a few
minutes. Where were you?" But Pianto was no longer listening. He was staring
at the statue. On the tablet underneath it was spelled out three simple words,
"YOU MAY PASS."
Without warning, the ground beneath them gave
out like a trap door. Pianto and Marana felt themselves sliding down a slide.
Further and further they slid, down through
a wide open cavern where the roof was hundreds of feet tall off the ground.
Pianto was beginning to enjoy the ride and even
built up the nerve to let go; Marana screamed like a wild banshee.
After what felt like an eternity, but was really
only a minute or two, the adventurers came out in another cavern.
They were on a ridge, overlooking a whole city.
But it wasn't as much the city as what the city was made of that took their
breaths away. It was an entire city made out of a gooey, colorful substance-Jellyworld.
To be continued...
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